Mega Edition: The Portland Serial Killer (9/24/26)

The man at the center of the Portland serial killer case is Jesse Lee Calhoun, a convicted felon who has been charged with killing multiple women whose bodies were found across northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. Prosecutors have accused Calhoun of murdering Kristin Smith, Charity Lynn Perry, Bridget Webster, Joanna Speaks and Ashley Real, and in September 2026 he was also indicted in connection with the death of Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson. The women disappeared or were found dead between late 2022 and 2023, often in isolated locations, and the similarities between the cases fueled early fears that a serial killer might be operating in the Portland area. Calhoun has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, and the cases remain pending.

What made the case especially controversial was the way Portland police initially pushed back against those fears. In June 2023, after six women had been found dead in the region, the Portland Police Bureau publicly said it had “no reason to believe” the cases were connected and characterized suggestions of a serial killer as unsupported speculation that was creating unnecessary fear. But the picture changed quickly. By July, investigators acknowledged that four of the deaths were believed to be connected and that Calhoun was a person of interest, and prosecutors later began filing murder charges tying him to several of the women. The reversal became a major part of the story because authorities had initially tried to reassure the public that there was no evidence of a common killer, only for subsequent investigations to establish the very kind of connection that residents and victims’ families had been worried about.



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